Labor Markets, Delinquency, and Social Control Theory: An Empirical Assessment of the Mediating Process

• Published in: Social forces Vol. 78; no. 3; pp. 1041 - 1066
• Main Author: Wadsworth, Tim
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chapel Hill, NC The University of North Carolina Press 01.03.2000; University of North Carolina Press; Oxford University Press
• Subjects: Academic Aspiration; Adolescents; Behavior; Child labor; Child labor practices; Childrearing Practices; Children; Childrens Attitudes; Conformity; Crime; Crime Rates; Criminal sociology. Police. Delinquency. Deviance. Suicide; Criminality; Criminals; Delinquency; Deviance; Dual Labor Market Theory; Economic Factors; Educational Attitudes; Empirical research; Employment; Employment Level; Evaluation; Family Work Relationship; Fathers; Influence; Job characteristics; Juvenile Delinquency; Labor; Labor Market; Labor Market Segmentation; Labor markets; Labour market; Labour market structure; Laws, regulations and rules; Market; Market segmentation; Markets; Mediation; Mothers; National Surveys; Occupational Status; Offenders; Parent Child Relations; Parent Child Relationship; Parent Role; Parental Supervision; Parents; Predictor Variables; Self Control; Self Efficacy; Social Attitudes; Social Background; Social Behavior; Social Control; Social control theory; Social Structure; Socioeconomic Status; Sociology; Sociology of law and criminology; State Surveys; Student Attitudes; Surveys; Theory; Unemployed workers; USA; Work Experience; United States; United States > US; Occupational aspiration; Labor Market; Social norm; Delinquency; Values; Attachment; Social Control; Duality; Parent-Child Relationship; Education; Efficiency; Parental Role; Division of Labor; Model; Family; Commitment; Security of employment
• ISSN: 0037-7732; 1534-7605
• DOI: 10.1093/sf/78.3.1041

The emerging labor market stratification and crime perspective has drawn on dual labor market theory and social control theory to examine the influence of labor market stratification and resulting job characteristics on criminal behavior. With empirical studies finding consistent support for this relationship, it has been suggested that parents' work experience may also influence their children's law-violating behavior. Using data from the National Survey of Families and Households, the current research examines whether parents' job characteristics, indicative of the primary- and secondary-sector labor market division, influence children's bonds to conformity and resulting levels of delinquency. The findings suggest that parents' job characteristics have significant effects on levels of parental supervision, children's feelings of attachment and efficacy, as well as educational aspirations and grade point averages, all of which directly or indirectly affect levels of delinquency.